Tumeremo: The present and future of families in the municipalities of Roscio, El Callao and Sifontes that depend on jobs connected to companies associated with the Rusoro Mining consortium are in doubt.

According to José Manuel Rivas, on-site security supervisor for the Rusoro group, accompanied by security officer Miguel Pérez and contractor Pedro Romero, the mining operations of the consortium may close down operations on August 1st because since March the company has not received any authorization to sell gold overseas, violating the resolution Nº 10-07-01 emitted August 11th 2010. The men say that a functionary of the Venezuelan Central Bank (BCV) named Elí Sánchez told the company that while he was in office at the BCV no more overseas gold sales would be permitted.

Also, the company employees explained that the sale of gold to international markets is vital in order to acquire and renew the equipment used in the gold's extraction, as well as being the resources needed to invest in diverse social projects.